While the first company visit was planned for the afternoon of the same day, this appointment got cancelled and we all got the chance to counter our jetlag by relaxing and a short exploration tour in the afternoon.

Still being dark and cold night in Germany, this Friday in Bangkok became known as probably the hardest day of the whole excursion. Fighting jetlag, Thai food from last night and especially with the hot and humid climate, we got on our business outfits and travelled from our hotel to our first official appointment, a meeting with the German Embassy Bangkok, where Mr. Adam, Third Secretary Economic and Commercial Section, and Ms. Gebauer, Political Counsellor, gave us an interesting general presentation about the political situation in Thailand, German foreign policy and especially the tasks and duties of the German embassy, before patiently answering all our questions. After this, we directly headed to a newly constructed mall both for lunch and discovering the ambitious idea of theming each level according to another metropole. In the afternoon, Mr. Sudi Narasimhan, Corporate Director of Marketing and Business Development, 

welcomed us at the Bumrungrad International Hospital, one of the world’s largest international hospitals according to clients respectively patients from abroad. It was also interesting to learn about our representatives background as Sudi used to work as an aerial engineer before he decided to go into marketing. He introduced us to the general topic of health tourism as a major form of tourism in Thailand, the hospital’s idea and its facilities that looked far more like a luxury hotel than a typical hospital. In the late afternoon the program drastically changed the topic towards sexual exploitation of children and possibilities of companies to face this issue. These serious topics were discussed during an appointment with representatives from the NGO ECPAT and the project The Code. 

The next day was dedicated to local food and community based development, as it was introduced to us by the award-winning founders of Bangkok Food Tours. Their idea is to get very local and traditional restaurants and curious tourists together by offering them guided tours and taste very different styles of food. With another of their projects, the Smiling tuktuk, they aim on offering tourists tours through vibrant cities the authentic and traditional way by getting around in a tuktuk, without being scammed. Afterwards, we got to try the food tour ourselves and get a first-hand experience of the product.

Having stayed a night in a tent on the beach, the next overnight-stay finally was a hotel with air-con and flowing water again. Nonetheless, after a breakfast at the local market, we headed towards our last destination, the (among tourists) well-known city Phuket, where we had an appointment with the Tourism Department of the Prince of Songkla University, Dr. Promsivapallop, Deputy Dean for Academic and International Affairs, as well as Mr. Gallagher. After an introduction to their university which is one of the best-ranked in Asia, we also got in insight into their different facilities. Not only do they provide a show kitchen and a restaurant, where tastings take place, but also a partly rebuild plane for on and off board training. Further, an interesting discussion about their points of view of the effects of (mass) tourism in the area provided us as well as tourism students from Prince of Songkla University with a lot of information.

In order to cope with all the input, both study related as well as cultural, the last day of the trip was a day off in Phuket, offering the students the possibility to discover the beauty of Thailand’s nature by visiting one of the many beaches or the well-known James Bond Island, by overserving the visible impacts of tourism around Patong and Karon Beach.

While some of us traveled back home the next morning, others have taken the opportunity to expand their stay in Thailand.